[xwiki-devs] [Discussion] About hidden applications and how we find them

Hi, XWIKI-7568 <http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-7568> - Implement mechanism to hide technical content added some big changes for me in the way we organize things inside XWiki, what we consider to be hidden or not and how we reach hidden applications. As a first visible change, now the Spaces gadget found on Main.WebHome doesn't display anymore spaces like 'AnnotationCode', 'ColorThemes', 'Invitation', 'Panels', 'Scheduler', 'Stats'. My main concern is that if something is not visible and accessible it will never be used and thus it doesn't exists. That's why I've created: XWIKI-7916 <http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-7916> - Integrate ColorThemes functionality inside Administration XWIKI-7920 <http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-7920> - Integrate Scheduler functionality inside Administration XWIKI-7919 <http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-7919> - Create an entry point for Stats inside Administration XWIKI-7918 <http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-7918> - Have an entry point for the Invitation application While some functionality may seem normal to be Admin only (also because some of the hidden spaces were about configuration), some is arguable: - 'ColorThemes' initially were supposed to be used also by normal users in their profile but this didn't made it in final implementation; - makes sense that maybe a normal user could create a 'Panel' but right now this is not possible from Panels.WebHome; - Invitation should be able to be used by both types of users, but without the setting of the server mail, the users will always receive an error; - Stats again could be used by both. What I would like is that things that are about configuration should always be integrated in the Administration. I am referring to the Scheduler configuration, Stats configuration, Search Suggest configuration, etc. The logic behind is that the Administration acts like an entry point for any configuration related actions. As Admin I shouldn't go outside Administration in order to achieve my configuration task (ex. XWIKI-7917<http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-7917> XWIKI-7921 <http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-7921> etc. ). Now adding configuration inside Administration still doesn't solve the problem on the entry point. As an administrator, after I've completed the configuration step, where do I find the application? As a normal user is the same question + how do I even know that applications exists? For this issue I've created XWIKI-7927 <http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-7927> - Create an entry point for all available applications inside the wiki This can be implemented as a gadget, as a panel or even as an Application Index (as a livetable or as a grid). Now another problem remaining is that of specifying if an application is intended for Advanced, Simple users or both. Who should see Stats app? All the users? Just advanced users? As a first step, the hidden feature works because 'advanced' applications will be considered 'hidden' for users. The problem is what we consider 'advanced' to mean. Is ColorThemes or Stats an advanced application? And is especially problematic since by default the Administrator has an 'advanced' + 'hidden' configuration, meaning that he will not be able to see by default ColorThemes or other configuration (but currently hidden) application that might be useful for him (he needs to know that the functionality exists somewhere). So he is an 'advanced' user that doesn't have visibility to 'advanced' applications. So IMO the hidden mechanism is great for hiding technical pages (pages like *Sheet, *Template, Macros, internal pages, etc.) from users. It doesn't matter if those pages exist (from an user's point of view) as long as there is an UI that integrates them. The bad part of the current status of the 4.1RC1 is that IMO we should not consider entire applications to be hidden. Internal pages of the 'Invitation' app should be hidden, but the WebHome (that contains the functionality and the UI) should be available/discoverable somewhere. In order for 'advanced' applications to not be displayed for normal users we should have another field that describes the application and this can be 'simple' or 'advanced' (and not rely just on the 'hidden'). XWIKI-7925 <http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-7925> - Have application descriptors for Application spaces So the only problem remaining (besides the actual implementation :) ) would be to discuss what applications are advanced (or even admin only) and what are not (thus available to the general population). Keep in mind that the current separation is now simple/advanced but we might need a user/developer/admin separation in order to better separate the task functionality of our current applications scopes (ex. since we might want to have admins only applications that should not be available to developers, both being advanced users). Thanks, Caty